At the Danny Woo Community Garden, our Children's Garden provides young people ages 3-18 a place to engage with nature and community, explore, learn, and play. We are very lucky to bring on board Maddie Piper, who will be providing us with guidance, best practices, and curriculum development for our children's garden programming. They have worked in environmental education in Denver as well as the Fiddlehead Forest Outdoor Preschool in the University of Washington Arboretum. Welcome to the garden Maddie!

Who are you?
My name is Maddie Piper (they/them/their) and I am senior at Seattle University! 
 
How long have you been part of the DWCG community?
I have visited the garden several times for the past 3 years, but did not get involved in the community until last year when I took an Anthropology class that included service learning in the garden. We volunteered during a couple of work parties, helped support Lizzy with the preschoolers who come to the garden, and created projects to bring recognition to the indigenous peoples who lived and continue to live in this region. My group created that batik flags that now hang on the South Entrance of the garden!
 
Why did you start volunteering/working at the garden? What are you working on?
Originally, I started working on the garden because of my class last year. This year, however, I am stepping into a different role as an intern as part of my senior project for my Teaching degree. As a Teaching and Environmental Studies major I was interested in trying to find a place where I could combine two of my passions. Danny Woo Community Garden was a great fit! This quarter I am working both in the garden getting my hands dirty as well as will be creating a curriculum for youth programing in the garden.
 
What is your favorite Asian vegetable or food?
I love bok choy! I pretty much love any dish that has lots of veggies and noodles!
 
Where did you grow up?
I grew up just south of Denver, Colorado.
 
What languages do you speak?
Just English. I know some Spanish, but not as much as I used to.
 
What are your hobbies or special skills?
I love knitting, embroidery, and other crafting activities. I also spend a lot of time outdoors hiking, biking, rock climbing, gardening, or just taking long walks around Seattle. In my spare time I also love to cook and bake. My special skills include always having a fun animal fact in my back pocket!

Every semester, we work with many enthusiastic and helpful volunteers in the Danny Woo Community Garden. We wouldn't be able to function without them! This January we are excited to introduce Kaeli Deng, who is our University of Washington Work Study. She has been volunteering with us for over a year by helping in the garden, communicating with gardeners in Mandarin, and organizing events with us.

Who are you?
My name is Kaeli Deng, I’m a work study student from UW.
你是谁？
我叫邓凯利，现在是一名华大的学生。

How long have you been part of the DWCG community?
I’ve been part of the DWCG community since last year. I started with volunteering in the garden whole quarter when I was a college student. Now I come back as a work study student to help this community become better.
你成为胡锦培花园的一员多久了？
我从去年开始加入这个社区组织，先是成为一名义工在我还是一名社区大学生的时候。现在我作为work study学生回来继续为社区工作并希望这个社区能变得更好。

Why did you start volunteering/working at the garden?
I like to do some outdoor jobs that related to my major which is Environmental Science.  When I first time searching the volunteer jobs, I found Danny Woo Community Garden is perfectly matched to my ideal job. People in the garden are so friendly and kindly, they’d love to share their knowledge and experiences with everyone who wants to learn. There’s no cultural and language hinder between difference races. I feel so warm to work with people here and this is why I come back as a work study student.
为什么在这个花园做义工/工作？
一开始在我还是社区大学生的时候我希望能找一份户外的又跟我的专业环境科学相关的义工，然后我就找到了胡锦培国际花园这个刚好吻合我要求的花园。在这里，所有人都很友好善良，如果你想学习，他们会不吝地分享自己的种植知识和经验给大家。这里没有任何的文化和语言的阻碍，这让我感觉很温暖也是为什么我会再回来为这个社区作贡献。

What is your favorite Asian/Chinese vegetable or food?
My favorite Asian vegetable is peas! Any kinds of peas are welcome! My favorite Chinese food is braised pork.
最喜欢的亚洲蔬菜和亚洲食物？
我最喜欢的蔬菜就是豆子了！任何种类的豆子都很喜欢。最喜欢的中国菜是红烧肉。

Where did you grow up?
I grow up in two places, one is China, and another one is Saipan, my birthplace.
在哪里长大的？
我在两个地方长大的，一个是中国还有一个是塞班。

What languages do you speak?
I can speak Chinese and English, and I’m learning German right now.
会讲什么语言？
我会讲中文和英文，现在正在学习德文。

What are your hobbies and or special skills?
I’d like to do gardening when it is the season. Drawing and reading are also my hobbies when I can’t go out. My special skill is be nice to everyone.
你有什么兴趣和特殊技能吗？
我喜欢打理我的小菜地如果到了季节的话。画画和阅读也是我的兴趣爱好。至于特殊技能应该就是能保持友好态度对别人。

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Versatile, reliable, and energetic (with a splash of sass). 

On the Wednesdays between October 10th and December 12th, this fun, young group met in an after-school Wilderness Inner-City Leadership Development (WILD) program. They weaved their way through team-based competitions, juggled both cooking and carving, and soaked in all the horticultural knowledge they could harvest. (Pun intended.)

More specifically, in October we planted Thai basil for the elders in the C-ID, learned about the different nutrients plants need, toured Mrs. Huang's garden, preformed collaboratively-created poems, and held a pumpkin carving competition that involved roasting the seeds with a mystery ingredient.
In November we put the Danny Woo Children's Garden to bed, learned about plant families and organic fertilizing methods, planted garlic, made Ssam, crafted vertical pallet gardens out of recycled materials, painted prayer flags with our eldest gardener Mr. Pan, and experienced a traditional tea ceremony presented by local business owner Caroline Lee. 
The final December weeks involved making Kimchi from scratch with Mrs. Baskerville, decorating the terracotta pots that will hold the Thai basil, and hanging our flags up in the garden.

At InterIm CDA's Holiday Party, the youth will be presenting their gifts of basil to the elder residents. We look forward to that and to the winter quarter program which will begin in January.

As you might have guessed, it has been a full and fulfilling quarter! I would like to thank the youth, my co-facilitator Lizzy Baskerville, Mrs. Huang, Mr. Pan, Caroline Lee, Mrs. Baskerville, Andrea Say, Henry Liu, Eliza Guan, and all others who made these experiences possible. We hope that WILD continues to liven the community garden space and connect the generations present in this diverse and historic district for many years to come.


Angela Patel

Help our Gardeners at the Danny Woo Community Garden!

Hours: 9:30-11:30 am every Wednesday
Description: We are looking for a volunteer to help us better communicate with our Mandarin-speaking gardeners. The volunteer will work closely with the Danny Woo Community Garden manager Lizzy Baskerville, our Cantonese interpreter Eliza Guan, and other garden staff. The volunteer would either work inside to make phone calls to gardeners, translate written material into Chinese, or walk through the garden and talk with gardeners to see if they need assistance or have any questions or concerns.
Qualifications: Fluent in Mandarin, ability to read and write Chinese. Interest in working with elders and interest in gardening a plus!

If interested please email Lizzy at lbaskerville@interimcda.org

Want to learn how to paint with watercolors?

Want to make your own postcards to send to family and friends?

Look no further! For $20 per person, the garden will be hosting a painting class for all skill levels and ages. An instructor will lead the class and each person will get to take home three of their own watercolored postcards. Fresh pressed cider from our orchard, donuts, and painting supplies will be provided.

​If you're interested, get your tickets at interimicda.maestroweb.com or contact Angela at apatel@interimcda.org. Seats are limited so sign up as soon as possible to reserve yours!

Danny Woo Community Garden
Monday - Friday 
9 - 9:30 am 


Help us keep the garden beautiful in exchange for some steaming herbal tea! This event will be hosted every morning Monday-Friday and the garden staff is looking for helpers (and/or tea-lovers) like YOU. A daily trash sweep is essential for maintaining a clean and safe space for our gardeners and visitors. The tea stand will be on the picnic tables near the S Main St garden entrance and the garden staff will provide all of the cleaning materials. We hope to see you there!

Learn more about your community garden by checking out the interactive (clickable) tour map here. The map was created by Sachi Kagaya, a student from the University of Washington-Seattle, by using software tools such as ArcMap and ArcGIS Online. She also made an interactive garden map that has made managing the garden easier for the garden staff. Enjoy!

On March 10th, along with The Mission Continues and other veterans services groups in the area, we laid the concrete foundation for Alessandra Panieri's "Guardian Flower" sculpture, which is now located in the Children's Garden. We completed the installation of the sculpture on March 17th along with community volunteers.

The beautiful steel sculpture is a flower with red birds petals, standing at 15' tall. We are grateful to Alessandra Panieri for her generous donation, Dan Barsher for managing the installation, veterans from The Mission Continues and our community volunteers for their labor and support of this collaboration. Check out more of Alessandra's art at www.alessandrapanieri.com and check out The Mission Continues at www.missioncontinues.org . Happy Spring!